Ramblings

After adding an additional medication for my depression, which had been acting up off and on since last fall, I've been feeling some renewed life in my mind and body for a few weeks now. As one who prefers not to take any medicine, I wasn't thrilled at first that I needed to add another one. But if the new combination improves the quality of my daily life, and therefore my family's, then gladly take it I will!

Signs of spring, highly anticipated, are slowly arriving! We saw our first robins a couple weeks ago and even more birds are showing up every day. Snow piles are finally gone. Longer hours of daylight. The trampoline is up and running. And the dog is tracking mud into the house if we don't catch him in time - not my favorite sign of spring!

We enjoyed a visit from Grandma and Grandpa (my parents) this past weekend. My mom and I sorted through and organized several boxes of their photos that they brought up. Especially fun was seeing some oldies but goodies from the 70's and 80's!  Always brings back memories and lots of "Oh, I remember that!". My muscles are still thanking me for a game of bowling on Saturday. Grandpa is a great bowler; the kids love to bowl with him. Isaac even beat Grandpa by one point on the first game with a score of 170! How's that for a 12 year old against a 40-year bowling veteran?

I've gotten into a much-needed whirl of scrapbooking since a cropping weekend away with three friends in February. I'm quite behind - I'm still working on 2006, but I'm making progress and am hoping to keep up my momentum on into 2007 and 2008. It feels good to be accomplishing something creative and productive!

Creativity MIA

One thing (of many) that depression steals is creativity.  I enjoy various creative outlets like knitting, crocheting, sewing, scrapbooking, and photography.  But when my depression flares up, I have little interest or energy to work on projects, even when part of my self really wants to. So instead of posting pictures of all the amazing things I have made lately, because I haven't, I thought I'd show some ideas of what I would like to make:

 Vintage Sheet Quilt

I've been collecting some vintage sheets and pillow cases from garage sales, thrift stores, (and my parent's house!) for a while now. This would be my first quilt; should be fairly easy because it's just squares, no complicated pattern.

Knit Leaf Cravat Scarf

More of these cute knit dish clothes (I've already made one and I really like how the pattern turns out)

Christmas Tree Ornaments

Knitted Pears

I'm also 4 years behind on my scrapbooks! I've had my supplies out on the dining room table for a few weeks now, and work on it as my brain will allow, which isn't often.  Some day I'll get caught up.

I continue to have some good days and some bad days; but hoping that I'll feel well more consistently as August is gone and we approach fall. I love fall! Perfect time for taking lots of pictures!

(I'm having problems with new layouts with blogger, I don't know why some of my descriptions are not lining up correctly - they look okay when I'm typing them - but I'm not going to figure that out right now!)

Bird's Eye View

I feel kind of like these guys . . . is Winter over YET??

Regardless of what the famous meteorologist Punxsutawney Phil says, we're tired of winter here in Michigan.  The boys are getting wild inside and missing our trampoline and their bikes.  We haven't even had a good, heavy snowfall for a month.  There's still a couple inches of old snow on the ground, but no new snow that could break up the monotony and give us a fresh blanket of snow so it looks all pretty again outside.  For now, it's just boring and gray.

To make things brighter for me though, I had two great weekends in a row.  First was a weekend away with 3 friends for scrapbooking.  I didn't get as many pages done as I had hoped to, but then again, I never do!  This annual weekend is always a refreshing time away from home and responsibilities, lots and lots of talking and catching up, good food, and even some TLC or HGTV while we eat our meals or take a break.

This past weekend I went to a local homeschool conference Friday night and Saturday.  The two speakers (Steve Demme and Sally Clarkson) were very interesting and encouraging.  I came home with renewed motivation in the middle of the school year and reminded about how important my job as a homeschooling mom is.  I also came home with a few books and other purchases from the vendors there, of course! (and thankful for an awesome husband who took care of the kids alone while I got to enjoy some time away!)

Two more months of winter in these parts.  But in the meantime, I'll make fires in the fireplace, drink some coffee, try to get a little more caught up on my scrapbooks, read a good book, and get started on various craft projects that I have in mind.

Heat Wave!

Holy Cow! We made it up to 51 degrees today! That's about 30 degrees warmer than the average temp. we had in January. Unfortunately, all the boys have a mild cold and I'm fighting it too, so we've mostly been hanging out at home. But still, it's exciting to see some grass emerging from under the snow, and our driveway completely clear of ice and packed snow! (and piles of "gifts" from Chester all over the back yard)

Now, before this starts to turn into a weather blog, I'd better talk about something else.

I have a few posts I've been working on in my head, but haven't had time or energy to complete them. So for now, I'll post some pictures from a cropping weekend I went on a few weeks ago.

About once a year, 3 friends and I go away to one of the friends' in-law's condo (while they're traveling) and spend the weekend working on our scrapbooks together. There's also plenty of talking, eating, laughing, more talking, and the occasional watching of TLC or HGTV while eating or taking short breaks. It's always such a fun time away - enjoying each other's company, getting some pages done, and getting a break from our routines and responsibilities at home.









I didn't want to mention the weather again, but that's what their deck looked like!